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Justice. Only Justice Shall Thou Pursue

Friday, March 07, 2014

Behind the Curtain: Who's Really Behind CPAC?

CPAC is currently having its annual shindig in Maryland. CPAC is run by the American Conservative Union, and the event needs lots of money to happen. But it's not grassroots organizations that are funding this event. It's heavy hitters and deep pockets.

Rarely seen and previously unreported tax filings for the ACU and ACU Foundation, the group responsible for staging CPAC, reveal that in the 2010 tax year, the National Rifle Association provided $225,000 of the ACU Foundation's overall revenue. In 2010 the ACU Foundation reported $288,670 in grant revenue and $1,063,103 in "program service revenue." The NRA's executive vice president and CEO, Wayne LaPierre, has been a regular featured speaker at past CPAC events and he again spoke at the gathering on Thursday. The 2013 CPAC included an event titled "NRA University" at which CPAC attendees could "learn more about NRA, Second Amendment, gun control debate." It even offered participants "a FREE one-year NRA membership," according to the conference schedule. The NRA is a "presenting sponsor" at the 2014 conference--a sponsorship level requiring a $110,000 contribution.

In 2010 the billionaire Koch brothers' companies contributed a total of $50,000 to the ACU and the ACU Foundation. In the same year, cigarette giant Altria contributed $25,000 to the ACU, and the conservative Anschutz Foundation contributed $25,000 to the ACU Foundation.

So, if you've wondered why Wayne LaPierre gets to scowl and complain and cajole the audience to buy guns before the President takes them away, it's because the NRA paid for the spot.